


It Seems To Be Real

by luney_moony



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Reality, BAMF Dean, Canon Divergence, College AU, Hell, Multi, from the end of season 3, human!Cas, reality play, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-01-19
Packaged: 2018-05-15 00:56:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5765548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luney_moony/pseuds/luney_moony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean was getting ripped apart by hellhounds when he wakes up in Lawrence, Kansas. When he wakes up again, all he feels is pain. The third time he wakes up, it’s normal. The fourth is pain, again. After the fifth, he had lost count.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Seems To Be Real

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I've been meaning to write this for a while and only now, I sorta had the time.   
> It's inspired by a Johnlock fic I read once, and the TV show 'Awake'.  
> The characters and relationships might change as I write this fic, but it will most likely stay like this.  
> This work is not complete for now, because I don't really have much time to write with school and all but I'll try my best.  
> So, I'll hope you like it.

 

Every few nights Dean Winchester wakes up in Hell. 

And, no. It’s not a fucking metaphor, fuck off Sam. He really does wake up in Hell, it’s not like he can actually tell someone about it. If he wants to stay not locked up, that is.

Though if they wanted to lock him up, there are plenty a reason to do it, in his opinion.

Back to the original point, Dean Winchester waking up in Hell, and all.

Apparently, when one sells his soul, the side effects are a bit more complex than advertised. Like, sure, he did end up in Hell. However the drawbacks are far graver. 

Or maybe it’s just him. He doesn’t really know. It’s not something people will actually tell to other people, so. 

Anyways, Dean Winchester will always remember the night his soul got dragged to Hell. He will always remember the hellhounds ripping at his skin. He will always remember the welcome darkness that he drowned in. He will always remember how he thought ' _ I will never see a light again' _ , such a corny thought after all.

And he will always remember waking up afterwards. 

The feeling of panic and shock and confusion at seeing a light. And then getting even more confused when a redheaded girl woke him up. "W-what?" he said, voice hoarse from sleep. 

"Dude, you are gonna be late for class if you keep sleeping," she replied, "Cas will kill you if you skip."

And the absolute crazy part? He knew it. Somehow, he knew who that girl was, Charlie Bradbury is her name. He knew that she is his best friend. He knew he fell asleep while they were marathoning Star Trek that same night. He knew he is in his second year in University of Kansas, getting his degree in mechanical engineering.

Somehow he knew everything he ever did in this world without actually living it. 

"Yeah, watch me," Dean answered, voice hoarse, turning over and getting back to sleep. 

He remembers waking up again. Other then that, all he could comprehend is the pain, pain, pain. His flesh tearing up, a warm liquid pouring down his chest, which he was pretty sure was his blood. But he couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. All he saw was red. The pain was overwhelming.

He passed out, and woke up again.

“Dude get up, we got a job.”

And, oh, he would have recognized that voice anywhere. 

“Sammy?” Dean bolted upright in his bed.

Sam was sitting at the table looking at his laptop, "a couple of corpses were found in Wyoming, and get this, their hearts were missing..."

Dean was beyond listening at this point. Something wasn't right.

"Didn't I get ripped up by hellhounds just a few minutes ago?"

Dean Winchester is many things. Tactful is not one of those things. 

Sam was silence at this for a while. Until he uttered one confused little syllable: "what."

"You know, the whole shabg. Azazel? Selling my soul, going to hell?" 

"Dean, what are you talking about?"

Dean was annoyed, frustrated and kind of confused. He decided to blame it on the tiredness and go back to sleep. "Know what Sammy, nevermind. Think I'm just tired, 'is all."

And promptly fell right back to bed, not even noticing Sam's concerned look or his mouth opening in protest. Just to shut right back because Dean literally fell asleep in seconds.

And woke right back from the pain. And pain. And pain.

Red. So much red. He closes his eyes and screams because it hurts, it hurts so much. The pain is overwhelming, keeping him awake when he know he should've passed out already. He hears voices, taunting him. Teasing.

He closes his eyes and hopes the unconsciousness will take him.

He is shaken awake again, "nah ah. Not on my watch."

Charlie hallows him out of bed and pushes him out the door, "you're Cas' problem now."

And he has no idea who this Cas is. Except when he has.

Somehow he knows where to go. Down the hall, left, right, up the stairs (two floors), left, left, first room on the right. He works on autopilot.

He sees room number 305 and gets in. He knows he's not suppose to knock.

He somehow manages to stumble forward and fall on his ass. He swears that it wasn’t possible before. 

The sight that greets him is a sight that he is familiar with. Expect where he has never seen it before.

It's a small room. Two beds, one under the large window and another next to it, well more at the end of it. A desk at the foot of each bed and two shelves over each desk. Next to the door there's two doors that he knows that leads to the bathroom and a walk-in closet. On the other side of the door, there’s a small kitchenette with a small table with two chairs next to it. 

Above one of the beds that he knows to be his (the one that is next to the one under the window), there are posters of Led Zeppelin, Doctor Sexy. Pictures of him and Sam, his mom and dad, and all of them together. The desk is full of papers and notebooks, pens and highlighters. A laptop is next to the mess, with a tower of discs next to it. That's when he noticed the guitar leaning on the desk and the books and textbooks and vinyl records that are taking the space on the shelves. 

The bed is, of course, a hasty mess compared to the neat placement of the bed next to it, which someone is sitting on.

That someone has dark hair and electric blue eyes that Dean can even see from across the room. He's wearing a worn-out black, almost gray, AC/DC t-shirt, which Dean is pretty sure is his, and bright gray sweats. The man is reading a book, which Dean doesn’t really care about, and when he notices that Dean has fallen over, he looks up and snorts, and goes back to reading. 

Dean doesn't need any "fake" memories to tell him that this is Cas.

Dean continues to lay on his ass, and stare dumbly up at Cas. Which Cas takes as his cue to close his book, and get up to help Dean up. “You do know that you have a class in ten minutes, right?” He offers his hand to Dean, which Dean takes warily, “we had an arrangement Winchester, don’t you dare bail on me.”

Dean is hallowed to his feet with surprising force, and then realises that he hasn’t really said anything since he left Charlie’s room, and replies, “yeah, I just came to get my stuff.”

He walks over to his desk and picks up his laptop and a notebook, some pens and puts them in the messenger bag there’s on the chair.

Cas watches him intently, and when he notices that Dean is actually taking his stuff, seems satisfied and says “good, now go before I’ll drag you there.”

Dean doesn’t need to be told twice, or thrice. “Fine, I’m going,” and at Cas’ sceptical look he adds, more insistently, “going.”

He goes dazedly to the class, his body knows where to walk, even though he thinks he doesn’t know where to go. 

While he is in the class, he notices for the first time what he’s wearing, jeans, a gray shirt and a plaid shirt. Well, at least that hasn’t changed. At the moment, it seems like the only thing that hasn’t. 

He thinks over the situation for a while.

He remembers being ripped to pieces by the hellhounds, and then Charlie. After that, he’s pretty sure he was in Hell, and then Sammy. Though, a different Sammy, one who didn’t die, or at least, one that Dean hasn’t sold his soul to. And then, Hell. Again. And now he’s back in this college world. With people he has never met before, yet seems to know them. 

Just a regular day in Dean Winchester’s life. 

It doesn’t feel demonic, or trickster-y. Or even, like the djinn dream.  It seems almost, real. Though he feels like he’s in a crazy-ass dream. 

As the lecture ends, he gets back to the room, which is empty. He guesses that Cas must have gone to class. So, he decides to test whatever is going on.

He promptly falls to the bed, and falls asleep.

And then he finds himself in Hell. Again.

Pain and blood, and screams. So many screams, sometimes his own, sometimes others. Screaming and shouting and tearing at his flesh. 

He stays awake for days, at least it feels like it. And as he goes back to unconsciousness, he is grateful.

Waking up again is to see Sam looking at the laptop, reading some articles about the case he mentioned earlier (a few days ago).

“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Dean says. 

“Well you fell asleep…” Sam begins to say, and Dean cuts him off. “Not that, this. I was in Hell, and then in college. And now I’m here. I’ve been to Hell three times, college twice, and now is the second time I’m here. Every time I fall asleep, I’m in another place.”

Sam is looking at him in concern. “You were here this whole time, Dean.”

“But I wasn’t,” Dean replies. 

 

\------------------------------

 

It goes on like that for a while.

Dean wakes up in his and Cas’ room, goes to class, watches marathons with Charlie, or goes out with her for drinks, gets to know Cas better (or at all, really), and then goes to sleep, where he finds himself in Hell. He always stays there for longer than he stays anywhere else, sometimes the pain keeps him awake, sometimes the screams. And then he finds himself with Sam (who is not Sam, but is), they do a hunt, and then he is in Hell. Again. And back to college life. 

Two days can take a week sometimes.

He freaks out most days, not knowing where he is. Hell is a given, but the other two, he gets confused between them, even though they are nothing alike. 

He develops a system. 

He found a blue rubber band one of the days, while strolling through the campus. It reminds him of Cas’ eyes, and so he buys it.

Blue is for college life.

And then he finds a similar green rubber band while he is on a case with Sam.

Green is for Sam and hunting.

He leaves the red for Hell. 

 


End file.
